


Amor Champion

by ValentineHawke (SpookofDarwath)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Friendship/Love, Humor, Inquisition Soldier - Freeform, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-03-29 19:47:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3908359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpookofDarwath/pseuds/ValentineHawke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An Inquisition soldier meets Garreth Hawke on the battlements and begins a friendship between the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Champion Hangover

Amelia stood upon the battlements of Skyhold. The crisp cold winds bit through her armor as she studied the vast mountain range ahead of her. 

She had been walking the battlements for several hours that morning with a hangover fueled headache after her supervisor had called upon her before the sun rose. Another soldier had fallen ill and was unable to complete their shift guarding the walls so naturally, the duty fell to Amelia. 

So grudgingly she had dragged herself out of her cot, pulled on her uniform and armor and, yawning all the way, had reported for duty as the sun was just creeping through the snowy mountains. 

It had been a quiet morning thus far. Even the winds had calmed their echoing roar through the mountains. She had spent most of her time on the battlements walking in circles around the castle pondering how wise her decision to challenger her fellow soldiers to a drinking contest the night before had been. She could feel the hangover in ever muscle and occasionally if she turned too quickly her head would spin so fierce it made her nauseous. 

She continued her well-worn path around the castle, waving to another soldier standing guard at the post outside their Commander’s door. He stood looking just as tired as she was. She knew for a fact he had made it to his bunk later than she had. The sunken bags under his dark eyes looked permanent and he sipped away at a steaming cup.

“All’s quiet, Jonathon?” She asked, stealing the cup from his hands and taking a sip herself. It instantly warmed her and the pounding in her head quieted a little.

“As quiet as this blasted castle can be. Every noise feels like an explosion righ’ now.” Jonathon replied, pushing his hand against his temple in a feeble attempt to still a throbbing headache. “That’s what I get for thinkin’ I could outdrink a superior officer. Those fucker’s don’t have to worry about draggin’ their asses outta bed this early.” 

“No, that’s a job for us grunts.” Amelia smiled at him and he barked a laugh that disappeared into the mountain air. 

“Crissta’s up. She’s on shift this s’morning also. Said she’d be lookin’ for ya. Saw her head the way you’re goin’ now.” Jonathon said.

“Aye, I’m sure she’s feeling last night’s drinking worse than we are.”

Jonathon laughed shyly and took another long drink from his cup. Amelia had a distinct feeling that Jonathon knew why her bunk mate hadn’t returned to her assigned bed last night, but didn’t press the issue.

Amelia bade Jonathon farewell and headed off in the direction Crissta would be. Crissta and her had been friends since they had met in Haven. Crissta had been part of the Inquisition’s forces from the start and when Amelia had shown up, hungry and looking for work with the army, Crissta had taken Amelia under her wing. 

It wasn’t long until Amelia found her walking along the walls. Her distinct blonde hair and sauntering walk gave her away immediately even in the unisex uniform of the Inquisition’s forces. 

“Crissta!” Amelia shouted, picking up a jog to catch up to her. “Wait up, fool.”

Crissta turned and smiled broadly, stopping to wait for Amelia to reach her. 

“Well, if it isn’t Miss Wicked Grace, herself.” Crissta joked “Disappeared before the rest of us last night, didn’t ya?”

“And you disappeared completely, yeah?” Amelia raised an eyebrow, knowing all too well that Crissta had finally convinced Jonathon to get a little closer.

Crissta smiled wickedly, “Not as completely as Jonathon would have liked. You should have seen the ribbing Turner gave him this morning. I thought the poor guy was going to die right there on the spot.” 

“I’m sure he would have liked to.”

Amelia and Crissta continued to walk to battlements together for at least another hour. The sun had risen steadily and the frost from the early morning was beginning to warm. Many of Skyhold’s occupants were waking and tending to breakfast. The smell of soups and fresh bread met their noses on the wall, making both their stomach’s rumble with hunger. 

“We can’t have much longer, yeah? I’m starving.” Crissta whined as they turned the same corner for what seemed like the fiftieth time. 

“Shouldn’t be much longer, no. I can see the Commander drilling the new recruits for morning training in the courtyard. Hopefully Merideen and Ivan aren’t late to recover us.” Amelia sighed, hand against her grumbling stomach. It couldn’t seem to make up it’s mind if it wanted food or wanted to expel more stomach acid.

Moment’s later Ivan came running up from ahead of them. His ginger hair was bright in the morning sun.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so late. “ He leaned over, attempting to catch his breath. His armor was hastily put on, several of the clasps only done enough to hold it together. “Merideen said she’d be up in a minute. I can relieve one of you now, if you’d like.”

“Go ahead, Crissta. I’ll wait for Merideen.” Amelia nodded at her friend. 

“Thank the fuckin’ Maker. About damn time, Ivan. I’ll catch you at breakfast, Amelia.” Crissta replied before heading back the way they came. 

Ivan and Amelia split ways then. She continued on the battlements that way she had been. 

She hoped Merideen wouldn’t be much longer. The gnawing in her stomach was getting more distracting by the minute. It felt like a The Breach had opened up in her gut and was threatening to swallow anything in sight. She took to humming to preoccupy her mind as she walked.

“That’s a Ferelden song you’re humming.” A man’s deep voice spoke out from below her. 

Amelia jumped so hard she thought her heart was going to explode. Her hand instinctively went to her sword.

“Maker’s balls, you can’t just scare people like that.” She glanced down.

The battlements met a building her and down below her was platform that was connected to the wall by a set of stairs. A man stood down there, standing over a table observing many papers.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” He laughed good-heartedly. 

He turned to looked at her then. He had dark black hair and sharp blue eyes that Amelia could see even from this distance. His armor wasn’t that of the Inquisition and an expensive looking sword sat at his waist. A strike of familiarity hit her.

“I know you. You’re the Champion of Kirkwall. You’re Serah Hawke.” Amelia said quickly. She remained at her position on the battlements, unsure of what else to say.

“That I am, though many times I wish I wasn’t.” Hawke smiled at her “Though I do find it odd that you recognize me. Were you a Kirkwall refugee?”

“I was.” Amelia said nervously. She had seen all Hawke had done in Kirkwall yet she was still unsure about him. There were far too many rumors to be sure of the truth especially as she hadn’t met him in person before. 

“I didn’t know you had joined the Inquisition.” Amelia left the question unvoiced.

“Well, joined sounds like a commitment. Let’s just say I’m….assisting.” 

“Yeah, assisting, huh? Well good luck, Serah Hawke. We need all the assistance we can get.” Amelia snorted.

Hawke chuckled, “Indeed. And if you don’t mind, just call me Hawke. Serah sounds so damn formal.” 

“Right.” She replied. 

She heard the rush of feet on the battlements then and turned to see Merideen’s dark hair flying out of it’s bun as she raced the wall. 

“Well, that’s my replacement. Looks like it’s time for me to head out, Hawke.” She emphasized his name, smiling down at him. 

“I’m sure I’ll see you around…uh..I don’t believe I got your name.” Hawke looked at her expectantly.

“Amelia.” 

“Well then, when we meet again, Amelia.” He waved quickly and turned back to his desk then.

Amelia stood on the battlements staring at the back of his head for a moment. The Champion sure seemed odd compared to the stories she had heard while living in Kirkwall. Everyone said he was a ruthless warrior with refined skill and surrounded by several other talented warriors and fighters. Amelia never imagined him to be so…polite. 

Merideen reach her then, panting as she tried to catch her breath. Unable to speak, she gestured at Amelia to go ahead and leave. Glancing back at Hawke one last time, Amelia couldn’t shake the feeling that he was one of the few people in Skyhold she might actually want to know. 

As she reached her bunk, Hawke was the furthest thing from her mind. Exhaustion hit her so fiercely that she felt as if she were going to fall over and pass out any second. Without much further ado, Amelia stripped down from her armor and crawled into her bunk. No more than two minutes later she was passed out cold.


	2. Soldier Duties

It was a freezing morning, if it could be called morning. The sun still hadn’t peaked over the mountain. Frost was lacing the grass around them that crunched under their feet. Amelia stood huddled with her fellow squad members waiting for first formation to begin. It was colder than the Void and their breath made steam in the air.

“Andraste’s tits, its fookin’ cold.” Crissta whined. Her arms were wrapped around herself in a feeble attempt to keep in some warm. “I don’t know why we have to be out here so damn early.”

“Because this is an army.” Their supervisor’s voice range out over the courtyard, “And in an army we wake up early.” 

Sergeant Del walked up to them then, looking chipper in the crisp morning air, and seemed motivated by the crappy weather. The rest of them groaned inwardly knowing that the pep in his step meant something highly unfortunate for them.

“Well don’t wait on me. Form up. It’s not that bloody cold.” Del stood looking at them, holding his board and papers which no doubt held a highly detailed itinerary for the day. 

They shuffled into a square formation and unwillingly brought their arms down to stand at attention. 

“Alright you nugs. Today’s agenda is fairly straight forward. We’ll be utilizing our refined skills to help clear out the garden and get it ready for planting.”

An audible mutter of dissent hissed from the formation. None of them wanted to be spending their time in the garden pulling weeds. Sergeant Del’s stony glare silenced them quickly. 

“As I was saying, we will be assisting with clean up around Skyhold to get this place looking like an actual place worth of the Inquisition. 

“We’re glorified maids, we are. Should just take our damn swords away and hand us the brooms.” Crissta whispered beside Amelia. 

Sergeant Del went on as if he hadn’t heard her.

“After that, we will spend the next few days preparing to depart for Crestwood. The Commander has ordered a whole company to move forward and establish an Inquisition presence and to prepare for the Inquisitor’s arrival.” He continued. 

This met no arguments.   
“You mean we’ll actually get to do something?” Crissta spouted, loud enough that Sergeant Del heard her for certain. Again, he continued on without comment.

“Our goal will be to secure several campsites in the area and scout for resources that could be useful to the Inquisition. Other than that, we’ll be keeping our noses clean. That means all of you.” He eyed Crissta at this. “Otherwise, that’s all I have for the day. Fall out.”

They broke formation and proceeded to conduct simple physical training. A quick run through the Skyhold courtyards got their blood flowing.

They regroup an hour later in the garden. Amelia stood in the center of the yard wondering how they would manage to clean all of it in a day.

Weeds and gnarled vines roped up the columns. Large bramble bushes with knife-like thorns threatened to break skin with every passing. There were old molding pallets broken to pieces in one corner. Amelia swore she saw something furry dart out from beneath the pile as they had approached. 

By the time the sun reached high in the sky some progress had been made. Amelia was kneeling in the dirt pulling vicious and unrelenting weeds from the side of the keep’s walls. Crissta knelt a few feet away from her cursing every so often when a stubborn weed refused to give to her tugging. A large pile of uprooted plants was slowly growing behind them. 

Amelia wiped sweat from her brow and could feel the dirt on her hands smear across her forehead. 

“I’ll be glad to get away from this blighted castle.” Crissta said leaning back and sitting on her feet. “We’ve been cooped up ever since Haven was attacked. We haven’t done shit to stretch our muscles. I can feel myself going domestic.”

Amelia just nodded. Dreams of Haven still haunted her. So many she had arrived at Haven with had died having barely any experience holding a sword let alone killing with one. Amelia had been lucky. Her father had been a soldier and in his spare time, had sparred with her when she was younger. It wasn’t much skill, but it was better than nothing. 

“There are rumors there’s Rifts in Crestwood. Maker, I’d love to kick some demon ass. I’m tired of beating up on Ivan in practice.” Crissta continued. 

“I’ll be happy if I never see another demon.” Amelia said quietly. Crissta looked at her for a long moment and Amelia was grateful she decided not to press it. 

“So…I also heard the Champion of Kirkwall’s here. Maker he’s pretty. With all them stories it makes me wonder how he’s managed to keep his face so perfect.” 

“I saw him the other day. He seemed like an okay guy. Nothing like those stories make him out to be.” Amelia said. 

“Did you? I would have jumped all over him had I been you. I heard he’s single.”

“And who exactly do you hear all this scully from?” Amelia laughed, though she agreed with Crissta. Hawke was indeed easy on the eyes. 

“Never you mind.” Crissta stuck out her tongue. 

 

They finished clearing out most of the garden by sundown. While it still had the look of something long forgotten, most of the weeds and clutter had been cleared away. Amelia hoped that this would do for the Inquisition, most because she didn’t think her knees could take another day kneeling in the rocks.

As soon as Sergeant Del dismissed their squad, the lot of them made their way to Herald’s Rest. No one cared to bath or even grab food. A pint was simply the best option after what was easily the most pointless day they’d had. Amelia secretly was glad to be leaving the inside of the keep despite her reservations. The rest of her squad was equally as stir crazy. 

To counteract that restlessness, the lot of them drank themselves to sleep nearly every other night. They’d fill their evenings with alcohol and cards, narrated by humorous stories about their lives before the sky exploded. 

Amelia was sipping at her drink, holding a fairly good hand of cards and waiting for Jonathon to decide if he’d meet her bet when a pair of blue eyes caught hers from the bar.

Hawke was leaning against the bar with a drink in hand, studying her. She looked around quickly and furrowed her eyebrows. It was weird to catch him staring at her and he didn’t seem to show a hint of embarrassment. In fact, he smiled at her over his cup before turning back to the bartender.

Amelia couldn’t help but wonder what had been running through his mind.


	3. Scandalous

The day before Amelia’s company left for Crestwood was a long one. It was comprised entirely of grueling equipment inspections and preparations for the upcoming travel. 

Armor was placed dress-right-dress in perfect rows mirroring their positions in formation. Every clasp and buckle was inspected to ensure that it was up to standard. A fraying leather strap could be the difference between armor that protected a soldier from death or a piece of metal weighing a soldier down. The process was grueling and meticulous. For Amelia, and her fellow grunts it meant a lot of standing around and waiting. 

There was also horses to prep and food to ration out for the entire trip. This responsibility had landed on their squad so around the already daunting task of ensuring their equipment was properly taken care of was the order to ensure that they’d have enough to eat until they arrived in Crestwood. 

They ended the long day near sun down. The orange and purple sky meant that in less than twelve hours time they’d be leaving the relative comfort of Skyhold and trekking several days towards Crestwood. To further prepare for this, Amelia’s squad was standing in formation waiting for last minute instructions from Sergeant Del.

“Alright you guys. We finally managed to get everything packed. Tomorrow first formation will be at sunrise. From there we will do a final inspection on all gear and make sure the horses are fed and watered before leaving Skyhold.”

Amelia sighed quietly in formation as Sergeant Del continued on. Another round of inspections meant at least an hour-long delay in them leaving in the morning. She could see Crissta roll her eyes beside her and knew she was thinking the same thing. Their estimated time to leave had already been moved back several hours over the past few days. Now, they probably would actually leave Skyhold until well after breakfast. 

Amelia jumped when Del dismissed them. She had stopped paying attention to his rambling and hastily fell out of formation before she was volunteered to do some last minute duty. 

Crissta caught her as she was headed back to her bunk. 

“Hey! Amelia!” Crissta grabbed her arm, “We’re headed to the tavern for some last minute drinks before the road. Don’t tell me you’re not coming?” 

She looked at Amelia in mock petulance. 

“You kidding? And miss out on the beautiful hangover you guys will have in the morning? No thanks. I’m just going to clear my head and get some sleep.” 

“Fine, but if you change your mind.” Crissta smiled at her and winked before disappearing towards the tavern. 

Amelia sighed and made her way up the battlements to watch the rest of the sunset. She knew she wouldn’t be sleeping much tonight. Not with the thought of a long journey ahead of them. Maker knew what waited in Crestwood. Crissta had told her about rumors of Fade Rifts and demons. Amelia wasn’t sure she was ready for another round of that just yet. 

She reached the top of the stairs and looked over the edge of the outside wall. It was a long way down to the bottom, but the view was breath taking. Skyhold was a truly beautiful place. 

“I’m surprised to see you here.” 

Amelia looked to see Hawke sauntering across the battlements towards her. He looked very at ease up here and Amelia couldn’t help but notice the way he moved.

“Why do you say that?” She inquired.

“Well I figured since it’s your last night here you’d be at Herald’s Rest with your friends.” He smirked at her, not unkindly. Teasing. 

“Yes, well, not all of us like waking up feeling like absolute shit. It’ll be a long way to Crestwood. I’d rather not spend the first day puking.” She shrugged. 

“I agree that would indeed be a bad way to start.” He was standing next to her now, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, “But maybe, just one drink wouldn’t do any harm.” 

His eyes twinkled mischievously. 

“Is that a suggestion or an invitation?” Amelia asked with a raised eyebrow. He smiled at her with near perfect teeth. She couldn’t help but wonder how a warrior had managed to keep them so perfect. 

“What do you think?” 

Several hours later Amelia found herself in an empty tower that was serving as Hawke’s bedroom. She was sufficiently drunk and Hawke seemed to be pretty tipsy himself. He was in the middle of telling her a ridiculous story about Varric and himself helping some bloke home in Kirkwall.

“The poor guy couldn’t keep his pants up. I do hope he found his shoes though.” Hawke laughed, his face flushed from the mystery bottle he had provided them. 

He was staring at her again. Only this time, she didn’t feel so uncomfortable. The booze was making her flirty and brave. 

“What are you staring at?” She asked.

“You.”

“Why?” She blushed.

“Because I want to kiss you. And you should take that as a serious compliment because I never want to kiss anyone.” 

He was close to her now, enough to feel his warmth. Embarrassment won out and she moved to make light of their closeness. 

“How scandalous,” Amelia faked a gasp “The Champion of Kirkwall smooching a soldier in his tower. What would they say?” 

“I don’t really care.” He was face to face with her now. His eyes were sincere as he looked at her. “I don’t think you understand. You’re the first person who’s just talked to me like an actual person in a long time. I need that.”

“What about Varric?” She was feeling nervous. 

“He’s one of my best friends but even we don’t talk about everything. It’s usually just business or something related. I haven’t really gotten to just talk to Varric since before I left Kirkwall.” 

“Oh” Her own words fell short. 

Hawke set his cup down and brushed her hair away from her face. Gently, he placed his hand under her chin and kissed her. It was light and his stubble brushed her face pleasantly. She found herself kissing him back and too soon he pulled away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the chapters have been short. Don't worry, it won't last long!


	4. Over the Mountain and Through the Woods

Amelia woke the next morning with a hazy mind. The booze was still lingering in her system and made her stomach feel sour. Last night seemed like a blur. One minute she had been enjoying the evening with Hawke and the next she had woken up in her bed. An empty darkness filled the time between those two moments and it made her nervous. What had happened between the kiss and her passing out? She hoped that she hadn’t embarrassed herself. 

Hastily, she jumped from bed and began throwing on her gear that luckily was laid out already from their preparations the day before. Her bunkmate, Crissta, was nowhere to be seen. Amelia felt her heart beat quicken with the realization that she was late for first formation. She quickly tugged her boots on and grabbed her sword before running out to their formation area. The brisk cold air hit her hard as she reached the grassy courtyard. 

As she suspected, she was late but not as bad as she thought. Lucky for her, they were behind schedule. She jogged up to where she saw Crissta and her other squad mates huddled from the wind. 

“Nice of you to join us.” Sergeant Del yelled across the yard, wind carrying his voice. 

“Morning, Sergeant.” Amelia met him “Overslept.” 

“Aye, well, make sure your gear is ready. We’re doing one last inspection before we get ready to leave.”

Amelia hustled over to the formation of gear in the grass and began checking each clasp and buckle for what felt like the millionth time this week. 

“You got home late, yeah?” Crissta asked quietly, squatting down to inspect her gear beside Amelia’s, “Thought you were going to bed early?” 

She was smiling in a teasing way that let Amelia know she wasn’t upset about her lie.

“That had been the plan, unfortunately I got side-tracked.”

“By a Champion in shining armor?” Amelia blushed at this.

“I saw him meet you on the wall.” Crissta left so many questions unspoken in this sentence. She expected Amelia to explain what happened.

“Yeah, and we had a few drinks. Nothing more.” Amelia didn’t feel like going into detail with Crissta at the moment. Her tone said she wasn’t going to. 

“Right, sure. If I were you, I’d have ripped that armor right off.” Crissta replied loftily. 

They spent the rest of the morning waiting. The rest of their squad had joined them to further inspect their gear or at least pretend to. They ate a quick breakfast of grits and bread and waited as the horses were staged inside the walls. Somewhere close to noon, they finally were called to stage themselves among the line of horses.

There were six horses: one for each of the squad sergeants, the company’s Commander, and his second-in-command. The rest of the soldiers were lined up on either side of the horses, staggered to make the column appear much longer and more intimidating. It was an easy tactic used to make them appear twice as large a company. 

As they stood in formation, another horse trotted up behind them. Amelia turned to see a familiar dark-haired man leading a horse beside him. His armor glinted in sun and his bright blue eyes met hers briefly before looking away. 

Hawke met with their company Commander, Captain Turnell. They shook hands briefly and exchanged a few words. Amelia tried not to stare openly. She had no idea Hawke was supposed to be coming with them. She pried her eyes away from him and looked forward, determined not to make eye contact again. However, Crissta was staged in front of her. They were out of speaking distance but the raised eyebrows Crissta gave her spoke volumes. She hadn’t known he was coming either. 

* * *

It was only several hours into their first day of travel and Amelia could already tell that this trip was going to destroy her leg muscles. The wind seemed to fight their every step. The rough terrain surrounding Skyhold made their trip much longer. They had to carefully maneuver down steep rocky paths. Several times Amelia’s ankle gave way as rocks underfoot rolled under her weight. 

The trip was no better for those on horses. The beasts were having a worse time than the soldiers, it seemed. Their hooves were having a difficult time gripping the steep mountain paths. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that the convoy made it to level ground. 

They stopped for a quick break to water the horses. As soon as they stopped, Amelia removed her helmet and let the wind dry the sweat from her face and run through her hair. Crissta met her and handed Amelia a flask of water, which she drank thirstily. 

“This mountain’s a real bitch, ain’t it? We haven’t even made it half as far as we should have by now.” Crissta leaned against a large boulder, crossing her arms. 

“I doubt we’ll make it down this mountain by night fall.” Amelia agreed “The horses can’t keep their feet under them.”

She scanned the column carefully. She hadn’t seen Hawke since they left Skyhold and briefly wondered if he was avoiding her too. That would make things easy for both of them, she thought. 

It wasn’t long after that, that the voice of their Commander could be heard through the wind. Shouts echoing his command down the column let Amelia and her squad know it was time to move out. With a collective groan they formed back up into rows and continued down the mountain. 

The flat land made it easier for traveling now but the wind seemed determined to hinder their pace. They were all relieved to reach a small forest that kept the wind off their faces. As soon as Amelia breached the tree line the wind broke and left an empty silence. It made the woods surrounding them much more eerie than they would have been otherwise. 

Amelia was scanning the trees when a horse rode up beside her. She glanced over to see Hawke riding next to her. He was still looking straight ahead but she got the impression he wanted to speak to her.

“What is it?” She asked quietly, just loud enough for him to hear. She couldn’t help the steel in her voice. She was embarrassed he was here. 

He didn’t reply at first. He seemed to be finding words.

“Amelia, I’m sorry. About last night. I never meant for all of that. I was drunk…and to be honest, just needed someone’s company. I hope I haven’t upset you.” He said finally.

The words stung more than Amelia expected. So he was just lonely? So it meant nothing to him, she thought. Her eyes burned in spite of herself. 

“Drunk or not, you shouldn’t go kissing people just because you’re lonely.” She snapped keeping her eyes on the trees.

“Amelia..” She could feel him staring at her now but she refused to look at him. 

“I didn’t mean..” He began, but she cut him off.

“If I had known you were coming, I would have never left it happen. It was foolish of us both.” She finished the conversation for him. He continued beside her for a long minute before finally pulling his horse back in line. 

Not long after their conversation, Amelia was mortified to see Hawke ride beside the Commander. She was immediately suspicious of what he could be saying to Captain Turnell. Maker forbid, he make this an issue out here in the wilderness. Its not like Amelia could be sent back now. Her heartbeat slowed as he fell back to the rear squad but her suspicion remained. 

They breached the trees as the sun was setting. Amelia raised her gloved hand to shield her eyes from the sun and marveling briefly at how beautiful it was. 

There was still snow at the bottom of the mountain but it was mostly melted away. Grass was green and sparked with wetness from the melted snow. Orange and purple colors spread across the sky as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon. 

The Commander called a halt as they furled out of the woods. Rock formations were on either side of them and shielded them from wind and provided relative security.   
They quickly began setting up tents and fire for dinner. 

Crissta and Amelia were sharing a tent, not surprisingly. There was a silent agreement between them. Crissta would put the squad’s fire pit together as she put together the tent. They had been together long enough to know each other’s strengths as well as their weaknesses. Crissta couldn’t put together a tent to save her life and would usually resort to swearing and kicking things if it were left in her charge. Amelia, however, was quickly able to put their tent together and pack away her gear in the corner. 

Removing her armor after the long trek felt like a gift from the Maker. Instantly, her shoulders felt lighter and she was able to move her arms freely. She peeled her gloves off and relished in the feeling of air drying her sweaty fingers. Soon after, Crissta returned and removed her own armor.

“Maker, that’s the best feeling in the world. I feel a hundred pounds lighter.” She exclaimed, stretching her arms to the top of their tent.

“Probably, because you are.” Amelia laughed. 

They left the tent and sat beside the fire. Jonathon had pulled dried rations from one of the horse’s packs and handed them out between the squad members. They all ate in silence, scarfing down their food. 

Not long after, Sergeant Del reached them and presented them with the guard shifts.

“We’ll be doing a roving guard. There will be four on at a time. Two will walk the front half of the column, two will walk the back. One soldier from each squad. They’ll be two hour shifts. Jonathon, you’re on shift first. They’ll wake whoever’s next.” He explained before continuing down to the next squad behind them. 

“Lovely. I always love being woken up in the middle of the night to walk around in the dark.” Jonathon mumbled as the Sergeant walked away. 

“You don’t see any Officers on that guard list, do you?” Merideen asked.

Jonathon scanned the paper and shook his head.

“Of course not. Leave it to the grunts.” Merideen said quietly, sipping some water.

“Hawke is on here though. He’s taking the shit shift with Amelia, Haver from first squad, and Tannon from fourth.” Jonathon said surprised.

“Why couldn’t he take over for one of my shifts? I’d much rather sleep than pull guard.” Ivan whined. 

“Wouldn’t we all?” Merideen agreed. 

Amelia, however, was trying not to panic. Was he trying to make things difficult? Crissta caught her eye but Amelia shrugged it off. The last thing she wanted was to speak her embarrassment out loud.

Instead, Amelia excused herself and headed to her tent hoping to get some sleep to make up for last night. However, as she lay in bed the noises of the campsite kept her from falling to sleep. 

Crissta came in not much longer, the fire’s glow showing through the tent’s fabric. 

“He seems to be making a point to see you, ya know?” Crissta said, trying to sound off-hand. 

“Or embarrass me.” Amelia snapped. 

“I doubt that.” 

Amelia didn’t feel like talking to Crissta about it. Instead, she buried her head underneath her pillow and closed her eyes. Not long after, Crissta left the tent. Amelia heard the door flap closed behind her. Eventually, the sounds of the campfire died down around her and Amelia fell asleep. 

It felt like Amelia had been asleep for five minutes when Crissta shook her awake. The tent was dark, the fire outside no longer lit and the soldiers that had been laughing around it were asleep.

“Hey, love. It’s your shift.” Crissta said groggily before climbing into her own bed. 

Amelia stood and pulled on her gear, eyes half closed and crusty. She sniffled tiredly as she exited the tent and nearly jumped out of her skip when she saw Hawke waiting for her.

“Andraste’s ass.” She swore as her hand instinctually went for her sword, “It’s fucking rude to scare people.”

“I surely didn’t mean to.” Hawke laughed quietly. 

They walked the rear end of the column in silence. By the time they reached the other side of their campground he spoke.

“I didn’t realize me being here would have changed things.”

“I don’t like to mix work with my personal life. It causes too many problems.” Amelia said simply.

“Yeah, maybe,” He stopped and looked at her now, “Look, what I said early. It came out wrong. I didn’t mean that I only kissed you because I was lonely. I don’t really know what I meant, just that I didn’t want you to feel pressured that it meant something. But, honestly, I enjoyed it.” 

Amelia didn’t know what to say so instead she turned and continued walking. He followed behind her, waiting for her to speak.

They spent the rest of their shift in silence. Amelia didn’t know what to say and Hawke afraid to break the silence and upset her further. 

Before their shift ended she turned to him.

“We keep this professional. I can’t kiss you and fight with you. It just won’t work.” Amelia said finally before turning in to wake the next soldier, leaving Hawke standing alone.


	5. Encouragement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick update! I'll be updating pretty frequently over the next week and a half.

Crissta opened her tent only to immediately close the flap again. The winds were treacherous this morning. She had woken up early to get a head start on packing up, knowing full well it’d be a confused mess. The first morning of a trek always had the new recruits scrambling to make the timeline and even seasoned soldiers had to get back into the swing of traveling. 

Bracing herself, she pulled her neck warmer on and wrapped it over her nose and exited the tent. The wind was roaring through the small clove they had camped in overnight. Tents were straining to keep upright and the horses huddled together against the rocks to keep warm. She quickly glanced around the campground and noted that some of the column had already woken and were tearing down their tents already. Sergeant Del was one of them, already rolling away the tent and his sleeping bag. She made her way over to him.

“Morning, Sergeant.” She had to speak loudly over the wind, “Is there any tea made yet?”

“Yes, the Lieutenant had her assistant make some a little while ago. They’re camped up by the Commander. Grab me a cup, yeah?” Sergeant Del grunted as he stood and headed for the horses. 

Crissta walked toward the head of the column and was relieved to see a small fire heating up a large can with the smell of tea reaching her through the wind. She huddled around it with a few of the other soldiers, most she recognized though some were fresh-faced. Luckily, she knew the Lieutenant’s assistant, Illene, and was able to snag two cups before the new recruits got their hands on the rest. 

She was headed back to her own campsite when a familiar face caught her eye. She couldn’t help but laugh at his downtrodden face.

“Hawke!” She called up to him and sped her pace to reach his.

He turned and upon seeing her, waited for Crissta to catch up.

“Morning. Crissta, right?” He eyed her quickly.

“Indeed. Or Haamer, as most recruits know me. We only go by first names in our squad.” She replied, sipping her tea. It burned her tongue but the warmth in her belly made it worth it.

“Ah, yes. That makes sense.” He said, as they continued walking toward the middle of the column.

“So, Amelia rejected you did she?” Crissta asked nonchalantly as possible, sipping her tea again. Hawke blanched slightly before recomposing his face. 

“Did she te-“

“She didn’t have to. It’s written all over your face.” Crissta interrupted him.

“Maker, that’s embarrassing.” Hawke ran his fingers through his hair uncomfortably.

“Don’t worry so much. She’ll come around. Just give her space.” Crissta nudge his elbow in a friendly gesture. He looked at her oddly for a moment and she noted the tension in his shoulders release. 

“And for Andraste’s sake, relax.” She laughed at his expression, “You’re so damn tense.” 

He let out a loud laugh at this and a smile appeared that met his eyes. He instantly looked ten years younger. 

“Trust me, I wish it were that easy.” His eyes betrayed him then. Years of carrying responsibility that wasn’t his could be seen. 

“This war ain’t your responsibility Hawke, you know that right? That shit in Kirkwall was a mess and you’ve done more than your fair share of the work.” Crissta said firmly. Hawke was quiet for a moment.

“And Amelia made the impression that you were never serious.” He replied with a teasing grin. 

“Yeah, don’t get used to it. I blame this shitty weather. S’making it a lot harder to find things funny.” Crissta drank her tea deeply, but smiled with her eyes. 

They had reached Crissta’s squad’s campground. Since she had left to get tea, the campground had woken up and began packing away the tents. Amelia stood outside their half-downed tent, steeling herself from the wind. She looked up and noticed Crissta standing with Hawke on the edge of the campground. The stony face Amelia gave Crissta spoke volumes. 

“If looks could kill.” Crissta said quietly to Hawke.

“I’ll take that as my que to leave.” Hawke smiled at her before disappearing back the way they came. 

Crissta, in an effort to avoid talking to Amelia just yet, dipped away to find Sergeant Del and hand off his cup of tea. Unfortunately, this didn’t take as long as she’d hoped as the sergeant was involved in helping a new recruit from second squad in the campground next to them. Dragging her feet, she made her way back to their own campground. Amelia was packing away the tent into her pack.

“Thanks for getting that packed up while I was gone. I was going to wake you but I figured I’d let you sleep.” Crissta said, hoping to avoid an argument. Whatever was going on between Amelia and Hawke wasn’t something she cared to argue about. 

“No problem, Criss.” Amelia’s voice was stony and Crissta could tell she was trying not to start an argument either.

“Listen Amelia, I wasn’t trying to get in the middle. We just walked back together.” She explained.

Amelia stayed quiet as she finished packing away everything into her pack. Finally, she looked at Crissta.

“Crissta, I know you. You were over there trying to convince him to keep at it, but I’m telling you please don’t. I just want to get through this damn voyage without drama. The last thing I need is some guy messing up my head when while we’re in Crestwood.” Amelia said at last with a tired look. 

“Come off it. This isn’t war we’re going to. It’s some stupid trek to find resources. Sergeant Del said so himself. Easy as pie.” Crissta argued.

“When was the last time we did anything that turned out to be easy?” Amelia replied deadpan. Crissta didn’t have a reply to that. It was true. Every mission they had gone out on since the Breach had tore open the sky was worse and worse. 

“I’m just saying you should give him a chance.” Crissta said quietly before turning away to help Jonathon untangle his tent. 

They didn’t speak the rest of the day. Instead, they both walked in silence unable to truly avoid each other because of their spacing in the column. Occasionally Crissta would see Hawke near the front of the column with their Commander. He seemed to be avoiding their stretch as much as possible. Crissta hoped this would ease Amelia’s mind a bit. However, based on the few glimpses she got of Amelia, she seemed determined to keep up her appearance of professionalism and refused to look in Hawke’s directions. Crissta couldn’t help but laugh at how stubborn her young friend was being. 

Crissta crawled into her bed that evening without a sign of Amelia, who had set up their tent and disappeared for her guard shift.


	6. The Things That Haunt Us

_Snow trickled down over the valley. It was serene and peaceful in the dark night. Haven’s lights were glowing warmly in the distance. The moon shown brightly over the valley and cast a glowing light as far as the eye could see._

_Amelia walked towards the ivy plane that was the lake. Orange fires around the trees were reflected back to her from the water. Something gurgled near the beach of the lake. It was an odd bubbling sound that made Amelia’s heartbeat quicken. It seemed to be coming from one of the many boulders, casted in shadows, surrounding the lake._

_Amelia approached the lake following the gurgling. Her foot slipped in a puddle that sent her crashing to her knee. Swearing, she stood again and followed the sound further. She closed in on the source of the sound. It was one of the boulders only, now it seemed to be moving. Amelia reached out and touched the boulder and it rolled toward her._

_She screamed into the night. It wasn’t a boulder, none of them were. It was a body. A man’s taunt face stared up at her, his mouth an empty maw overflowing with dark blood. The gurgling was coming from the hole in his neck where someone or something had lashed out._

_Now, all of the boulders had become bodies. Each one was in a similar state of approaching death. Many were maimed with limbs torn apart. Another soldier not far from her lay dead, intestines spilled out beside him or her. The puddle she had slipped in earlier was not melting ice, but cold blood._

_The snow she had seen falling turned to ash. The lights of Haven twinkling in the distance were fires that destroyed everything they touched. Beside her she saw a soldier’s body lay halfway in the water, a shock on familiar blonde hair falling from the helmet made Amelia’s head spin._

_“No…Crissta…” She scrambled to the body, rolling it into her lap._   
_Crissta’s face looked up at her, the ghost of her last laugh lingering on her lips. Her pale eyes looked up to the stars, empty. Crissta’s throat was slit, torn apart by a sword and blood covered her armor._

_“No..no, no…” Amelia felt hot tears fall down her face. She cried in agony at the face of her dead friend._

Someone was shaking her awake. Amelia blinked her eyes open to see the dark inside of her tent. Natural reflexes caused her to panic and struggle but strong hands held her.

“Shh…calm down. You’re safe now.” Hawke said, pulling her to him and holding until she stopped struggling, “It was just a dream.”

Amelia felt herself sob into his hard shoulder. The adrenaline rush was waning and was followed by a rush of hysteria. She cried hard and all the while, Hawke said nothing, waiting for her to calm down.  
Eventually, the sobs subsided and Amelia took a deep breath.

“I see their faces.” Amelia said quietly, “I see the faces of my friends, dead, despite knowing they’re alive. I see the dead from Haven.”

Her voice sounded hollow even to herself. Hawke sat watching her carefully. After a moment, he said-

“I see them too. In my dreams.” He sighed, “I can’t remember the last time I slept a full night. It’s the reason I took these guard shifts.”

Amelia saw then how tired he looked. His eyes seemed dull and grey. There were bags under his eyes earned from many nights staying awake until sleep became impossible to avoid. She wasn’t sure what to say anymore. Hawke didn’t seem too ready to say much else either, so instead, she reached out and grabbed his hand. A small smile appeared on his lips.

“Rest now. I’ll stay until you fall asleep.” He told her.

It was not long until she did and this time, she did not dream.

 * * *

In the three nights since Amelia’s nightmare, Hawke’s tent had slowly made it’s way closer to hers. This normally would have annoyed her, but with the increasing regularity of the dreams it actually made her feel safe. At least there was one person she knew understood the nightmares and waking up in cold sweats. Amelia never told anyone else about them and seeing as Crissta slept deeply and unperturbed, no one ever noticed until the other night.

On the fourth night, Amelia was woken up by Crissta for her guard shift. The schedule she had seen earlier that evening said she’d be one shift with three recruits she didn’t know. Tiredly, she pulled on her gear as Crissta crashed into her bed beside her and disappeared out the tent.

The night was calm. Over the several days they’d been traveling the scenery and weather had slowly changed with them. The weather, while still chilly, wasn’t nearly as cold as Skyhold’s lofty mountains and plants and trees grew in much more abundance.

The soldier from fourth squad met her before disappearing to sit at the end of the column. Normally, she would have made him get off his ass and roam the column like the rest of them, but she didn’t feel it was necessary. They hadn’t seen anything out here in days except for fennels and occasional wolves that would disappear before the convoy got close.

She was making her way back around to her own side of the campground when she heard it. A sleeping bag rustled in the darkness, far more than if someone had just turned over in his or her sleep. A voice murmured fervently trying to chase away nightmares. Immediately, she moved towards Hawke’s tent, knowing it to be the source of the sounds.

Peering inside, her suspicions were confirmed. Hawke was tossing in his rack, struggling against the blankets.

“Mother?” He asked someone in a dream, “Mother!”

Amelia reached forward and shook his shoulder.

“Hawke!” She said, shaking him again.

He jumped, swinging his arm out and catching her across the face. She felt her lip split and tasted blood.

“Maker, Amelia. I’m sorry.” Hawke reached forward and touched her lip.

“It’s fine. Are you okay?” She pushed his hand away. She felt her lip swell, “That was a good fucking hit.”

He looked at her sheepishly, nervously running his hands through his hair. She smiled at him before gingerly touching her face. It was more painful than it seemed. Hopefully, the swelling would be gone in the morning.

“Amelia-“ Hawke started.

“It’s fine, Hawke, really.” She said earnestly, “Just- are you okay?”

She knew it was a stupid question. The haunted look in his eyes said the dreams still lingered on the edges of consciousness, waiting for him to come back. She could only imagine the horrors that plagued his mind, after all he’s been through.

“I’m fine.” He said quietly.

“No, you aren’t. It was a stupid question.” She shook her head.

He spook so quietly, she almost didn’t hear him, “You’re right.”

Hawke put his head in his hands, “I just want to sleep, but all I see is the faces of Tranquil mages, the face of my dead mother struggling to reach me in a shredded wedding gown….”

Amelia sat beside him and held his hand.

“Everyone expects me to be strong. To them, I’m this symbol of strength and I can’t be anything less than perfect. To them, I always have the answers but honestly, most of the time I’m just making this shit up as I go, Amelia. I’m so fucking tired of being me. I’m so tired of being strong. I just want to sleep.”

He looked directly at her, pleading with his eyes for her to understand.

“Hawke,” She met his gaze, “You don’t need to be anything for me.”

He smiled wryly at her, “Thanks, Amelia.”

“Now, you should try and get some sleep. I’ll stay here until you fall asleep?” She asked with a small smile. He nodded tiredly before rolling back into bed.

Eventually, he settled into the bed and his breathing slowed to that of a deep sleep.


	7. Caer Bronach

“What in the name of the Maker is that?” Amelia heard Crissta shout as they rounded the muddy road into Crestwood. They had reached the outskirts of the Blight-worn town that morning, rain pelting them every step of the way. Amelia glanced over to where Crissta pointed off into the distance and her jaw dropped. Across the murky black water in the center of the lake, an eerie green glow danced over the waves. The dark waves that rolled beneath it were tinted in the unnatural light. 

Murmurs of wonder and unrest rumbled through the column as soldiers near the front turned in awe to the others behind them. Even Sergeant Del, who Amelia could see atop his horse not far away, looked alarmed at the sight. His horse whinnied nervously. Ahead of them, the Commander called for the column to cease. 

“Squad leaders, to me!” Captain Turnell shouted through the rain. The sergeants quickly pulled their horses to the front of the company. 

Amelia looked around nervously. The chill in the air clearly had more to do with the shitty weather. She couldn’t see any wildlife running through the brush and the lake’s water continued to churn and break despite nothing upsetting the surface. Even the smell of the lake was off-putting to her nose. It smelled of death and rot soaked in water. 

After several minutes, Sergeant Del returned to the squad. He dismounted quickly and waved at them all to circle him. He spoke firmly and quickly; his gravely voice showed no hint at what he was really feeling. The soldier in him had taken over. Now was the time to assess, plan, and move forward. 

“Alright, here’s the plan. The Commander and second are heading into town with the squad leaders. That includes me. The squads will stay behind and begin setting up camp. We’re sending word to the Inquisitor immediately and hopefully the Commander can get a good assessment of the town from the mayor.” He looked at them all seriously, “Until we know what the situation is, no one leaves camp.” 

“Yes, sergeant.” They all replied in unison. 

“Haamer,” Sergeant Del reverted to using Crissta’s last name, “You’re in charge of this squad until I get back.” 

Crissta nodded in understanding and said nothing. Sergeant Del seemed satisfied with this and handed off the supplies from the packs on his mount. As soon as they were emptied, he jumped back onto his horse and disappeared towards the company Commander. 

Merideen rubbed the front of her boot into the mud, “Well, this is a fucking disaster. Show up here to gather resources and we find a bloody rift in the lake. How the hell are we even supposed to reach it?” 

“We aren’t reaching anything,” Jonathon replied seriously, “We are going to set up camp and wait.” 

“It’ll take days for the Inquisitor to reach us. You really expect we’ll sit here doing nothing ‘til he does? Not likely.” Merideen grabbed her tent and turned to set it up on the side of the road furthest from the lake. 

Amelia also turned away to set up Crissta’s and her tent. The mud beneath her feet was making slow work of staking the poles into the ground. Several times she felt her foot slip out from under her and had to hold onto the tent to keep from falling on her face. By the time she was able to get the tent together she was covered in mud. Laughing made her look around and she saw Hawke leading his horse across their campsite. 

“That’s a good look for you.” He teased.

“Thank you.” Amelia said sourly. She pulled a rag from her pack and wiped her face and hands free of mud. She noticed that Hawke’s tent and gear were still packed on his mount, “Why haven’t you unpacked anything?” 

“I’m not staying. I have something I need to do.” Hawke said, looking down at his boots before meeting her gaze. 

“You can’t leave. The Commander doesn’t want anyone to go anywhere.” Amelia dropped the towel from her face and gestured at the lake, “It’s a fucking nightmare out there!”

“Amelia, I have to-“

“Who’s going with you?” She demanded. He sighed.

“No one. I can’t-“

“Are you fucking mad?” She felt her eyebrows rise into the air. His eyebrows knitted together in frustration and he gave her a chilling look.

“I can handle demons, Amelia. I’m not some half-wit rookie.” Hawke said dryly, “And as far as your Commander’s oTrders, my orders come from the Inquisitor. So if the Captain has an issue, he can take it to him.” 

“Fine. Just…be careful.” She said weakly. His gaze softened.

“Never.” He replied with a smirk and pulled his helm from the horse’s bag and pulled it over his head. He mounted the stallion with ease before trotting off through the campgrounds.

Not long after the campground had finally been put together the Commander and his pose could be seen on his horse in the distance. He dismounted and disappeared into his tent before the squad leaders headed back to their respective squads.

Sergeant Del pulled his own helm from his head after he dismounted in front of them and placed it in the crook of his arm. Amelia and her squad automatically circled up around him.

“So,” He said, rubbing grim from his eyes, “The Inquisitor will be here in several days. In the mean time, he has tasked us to prepare as best we can. We will be taking a keep not far from here. It’s being occupied by a group of bandits called the Highwaymen. The Commander thinks it’s best we take them out and use the keep for Inquisition purposes. We form back up in an hour.”

He dismissed them to get ready. Most of the soldiers in their company had to pull their gear out of their tents and redress. Luckily, Amelia hadn’t gotten the chance to relax and didn’t have to pull her armor back on. Instead, she focused on making a quick dinner for the squad with Ivan. They managed to scrape together scraps and make a reasonable stew over a small fire that threatened to go out from all the moisture. The squad quickly scarfed down dinner before meeting up with Sergeant Del. 

Amelia could feel the tension and excitement that came with the knowledge of a fight. A nervous fervor murmured through the camp as they dressed and prepared to overtake the old keep. Most of the excitement came from the rookie recruits in their company. Many of them hadn’t had a real fight outside of Skyhold’s walls. The more seasoned recruits like Amelia, who had already seen and lived through a good fight, were quietly anticipating what was to come. 

Amelia was especially nervous. The last time she had truly wielded her blade against an opponent that wasn’t in training was during the attack on Haven. She stood quietly amongst her squad mates, breathing deeply and attempting to push out the images of gore and death. 

The shouts from ahead took her mind of her memories. The Commander was calling them forward to explain their plan of action. The soldiers all stood behind their respective squad leaders as he explained to the sergeants his plan for each squad. The squad leaders then turned back to their soldiers and relayed the message. Sergeant Del motioned for them to kneel in front of him as he explained their piece in the plan. He grabbed a stick from beside them and drew out the keep in the mud. 

“Okay, so here’s the plan. We don’t have shit for equipment with us to take over a keep with regular siege tactics, but the mayor told us that the keep is in severe disrepair and we outnumber the bandits by far. So, first squad and fourth squad will be positioned here,” Sergeant Del drew two large X’s in the mud in front of the drawn keep doors,” Us and second squad will be positioned here,” he drew two more X’s on either side of first and fourth squad.

“When first and fourth break down the door, they’ll cover the door while we push forward through the gate,” He drew two lines showing third and second squad moving through the doors. Third squad moved off to one direction and second squad moved opposite to cover each side of the keep’s interior. 

“We will move into the keep from there and the other two squads will follow. The Commander will be with second squad. The lieutenant will be with first. We’ll make a sweep of the keep and eliminate any threat within. Are there any questions?” He looked around at all of them with raised eyebrows. 

“Do we have any idea what the interior of the keep looks like?” Jonathon asked gruffly, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

“No. We don’t have any idea what’s waiting inside.” Sergeant Del shook his head briskly. 

None of them said anything to this. Their sergeant looked around at them again before standing up and kicking the caked mud out of his boots. He threw the stick he had in his hand off to the side and wide the mud onto his pant legs. 

The keep was on the other side of the Crestwood from their camp. They marched in regular formation passed the decrepit buildings. Small and weak people looked wearily on at them from dreary houses with dying gardens. The rain continued to pelt them as they marched. Amelia had figured by now that the rain wasn’t planning on stopping any time soon. They reached the keep rather quickly. It stood against the dreary background of Crestwood with black and molding bricks. The entire wall in front of them was damp and slick with dark green moss. 

The squads positioned themselves as Sergeant Del had shown third squad with his drawing in the mud. Amelia leaned closely behind Crissta and felt Ivan press himself behind her. They pulled themselves as close to the keep’s wall as possible and waited as first and fourth squad bombarded the keep’s door. The old wood was warped and split under their blades easily. With ease the door was pushed open and the attacking squads backed off. 

Amelia followed Crissta in the doors and heard the rest of her squad follow. Second squad was on her right, filing in beside them. As her squad entered the keep, they maneuvered to the left and met several bandits who clearly hadn’t anticipating their attack. 

The bandits however, quickly pulled their own swords and met the squad face to face. Amelia lashed out with her blade as a bandit approached her cautiously. He met her steel with his own and danced away from her. She circled, anticipating his next move, and parried as he lunged at her. His technique was sloppy, however, and she struck her sword across his ribs, slicing him breast deeply. Seeing his hesitation, she moved forward and plunged her blade into the gap in his armor. His eyes grew dark and warm blood spilled out over her hand as she pulled her sword back. The bandit fell to the ground and no longer moved.

Her squad quickly cleared the courtyard of the keep and moved towards a rotting wood door to their front. They filled through the door and up the narrow stairs to the battlements and encountered several more of the highwaymen. One was heavily armored and carried a giant double-handed mallet that he began swinging madly as they approached. Three other bandits lurked behind him with blades.

Merideen quickly dispatched the less armored bandits with her arrows, hitting each one dead center in the chest. The large bandit however had them scrambling to avoid his heavy blows. 

“Circle up!” Sergeant Del could be heard bellowing through the din of the fight. The squad made to circle the last bandit each one staying just out of reach of his swing. Turn by turn, they attacked his opening as he swung away at another target. The circle formation made it difficult for him to focus on one person. However, his frustration won out and he made to swing in a large circle but before he could land a blow, Crissta slide forward, outstretching her leg and tripping him over the battlement wall. He fell with a loud thud in the muddy courtyard many feet below them. 

An arrow streaked past Amelia’s ear uncomfortably. She instinctually ducked her head and pulled up her shield as a second arrow struck it with a deadly clang of metal. 

“Form a wall! Archers on the steps!” Sergeant Del bellowed and the squad moved together in a single line. Their shields met each other end to end covering them as they stood shoulder to shoulder. Amelia stood between the sergeant and Merideen as they slowly advanced forward. Arrows struck their shields and bounced away. Three archers stood on the steps directly to their front at the corner of the keep. The squad broke into a run, holding the shield wall together and as they reached the archers, broke the wall with gaps large enough to fit their swords through, lancing the archers on their blades.

They broke away from the now dead archers and turned onto the perpendicular wall of the keep and moved forward clearing the battlements. When they were satisfied no other bandits remained, Sergeant Del led them down into the courtyard again. First and fourth squad were there looking as if they had just finished a good fight and third squad was billowing down the stairs opposite them, every one of them out of breath. 

The Commander pulled off his helm and pushed his sweaty hair away from his eyes and called for the squad leaders to group up. Moments later they returned and informed them the keep was clear.

Sergeant Del wiped his face of sweat and stood with hands on hips. 

“We’re staying here tonight. We’ll clear away the dead bandits and set up camp in the courtyard,” He told them after he caught his breath.   
Amelia’s squad made their way back up the stairs and began pulling the bandit’s bodies over to the side of the wall and tipping them over the other side where they fell nearly ten feet down onto the outside of the keep. Amelia counted at least seven men on the battlements alone before they headed down into the courtyard to remove the men they had killed when they breached the keep. Amelia grabbed the man she had killed and grunted as she pulled him up by the back of his armor. She could smell the stench of sweat, blood and shit on him and nearly gagged as she dragged his body out the keep gate. She pulled him to an already growing pile of dead highwaymen and stopped to take a drink. 

As she brought her canteen to her mouth an arrow nearly missed her head once again and buried itself in the moss on the keep walls. Startled she dropped her canteen and grabbed her sword. 

Looking for the source of the arrow she glanced around and shrieked as she saw it.

A corpse stood not ten feet from her, it’s skin decaying and peeling away to reveal grimy yellowing bones beneath it, and it was loading another arrow.


	8. Eerie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been awhile. I lost my motivation to write and had a crazy summer semester that took up most of my attention. Hopefully, now I can get back to writing regularly. Just a quick edit to get back into things.

THUD

 

The second arrow hit Amelia’s shield with a deafening sound. 

“What in the name of the Maker is that?” Amelia shrieked at the sight of the decaying corpse hobbling its way towards her, somehow managing to keep its boney fingers wrapped around a bow.

It made gurgling sounds like it was choking on its own rotting tongue. Flies burrowed into the corpse’s chest. The first time Amelia ever smelt a corpse decayed to this level she threw up her breakfast but now the sticky sweet smell of death was par for the course. 

Luckily for her, the hands that held the bow weren’t able to land a serious blow against her shield up in melee combat. Amelia quickly side-stepped the corpse as it lunged, mouth wide and howling, in her direction. With one fluid movement its skull hit the mud. The body stumbled beside her but was unable to keep its balance and fell. A well-aimed foot crushed the rib cage into the ground. 

Sighing, Amelia pushed her bangs from her face. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” She said examining the “body”, “First a rift in the fucking lake and now there’s a fucking skeleton shooting fucking arrows-“ 

“Oi, what the hell are you-What the fuck is that?” said Crissta as she sauntered up behind Amelia, canteen in hand. 

“What the fuck does it look like?” Amelia snapped. 

“A fucking skeleton, yeah?” 

“Fuckin’ A.” 

 

The rest of the squad stood not ten feet behind the two woman, staring in awe at their exchange.

“Those mouths of yours must make yer mothers proud,” Jonathon laughed “Ye both swear like soldiers that’s for sure.” 

Jonathon knelt beside the corpse, running his hand over his ruddy, ginger beard. 

“Looks like it’s been dead a long while. Longer than that there rift has been here.” He said, nodding to the lake, “Corpse has water damage. It’s moldin’ here, see? My guess is it came from the lake.” 

The three of them glanced out at the green glow over the water and cringed silently. 

“I fucking hate undead things” Crissta said with a whine. 

 

*

 

The Captain didn’t take too well at the mention of undead things coming out of the water. 

“Lovely…” Captain Turnell said, rubbing his temples with scarred hands. The Captain seemed young. He had a chiseled face with large blue eyes that gave him a rather innocent appearance, but in those eyes you could see the story of a warrior. “How long until the Inquisitor gets here?” 

“He is traveling now with companions. Estimated time of arrive was two days from now, sir.” A baby-faced Lieutenant said double-checking a letter probably sent post-haste from Leliana. 

“Okay, here’s what we do….” Said the Captain, “Double the roving guard. Get our best archers up on the battlements. In the mean-time, the squad leaders and myself are heading back into town. I want to take to that mayor again…” 

Captain Turnell dismissed the squad and Sergeant Del instructed them to set up camp somewhere within the keep. 

They managed to find a spot in the courtyard that had cover. Most likely it had been a horse stockade previously, but none of them seemed to care. 

Most of them were busy setting up their tents. Amelia stopped to have a drink of water when her’s and Crissta’s was finally satisfactory. Glancing around she couldn’t help but wonder where Hawke went. It’d be weird settling in knowing his tent wasn’t close by. 

She shook the thought from her head. Amelia scolded herself for letting something like that cause her unease. 

The sun was beginning to set although Amelia couldn’t tell how much of a difference it made. Crestwood was dank. The sky was grey and reflected the green from the lake. It gave the Keep an eerie look as the soldiers settled around the fire. 

Word had spread about the undead corpse attacking a soldier outside the keep’s walls. The unease could be felt throughout the campsite. Instead of the usual roudy conversations around the fires that evening, there were whispered exchanges. A somber hush covered them all like a thick blanket. 

“Man, this place sure gives me the creeps” Ivan whined. Ivan was a young kid. Amelia thought he barely looked old enough to be wielding a sword, but he held his own in a fight. It was outside of that, that he drove her crazy. Ivan came after the attack on Haven and he still had romanticized ideas about battle. In essence, he was the squad’s annoying little brother. 

“Everything gives you the creeps,” Merideen said sarcastically, peeling an apple piece with her pocketknife. She shot Ivan a sly look when he blushed at the shot.  
This got a general chuckle from the group as a whole. 

Amelia marveled at how much of a family they had become. She sipped her canteen thoughtfully and watched her group deal with the unsettling area. Only Crissta sat beside her quietly.

“You can feel it too.” Amelia said, leaning forward and placing her elbows on her knees. Crissta nodded curtly, her short blonde hair falling forward over her forehead. Amelia could tell it had been awhile since Crissta had had it cut. 

“Yeah…I can.” Crissta replied, “Something’s brewing out there. It’s in the air.” 

Crissta stood and walked away from the fire towards their tent. Amelia knew she’d be in there sharpening her sword until the tension in the air broke. 

Crissta was Amelia’s mentor and easily her best friend. She often forgot that Crissta was atleast ten years her senior. The blonde woman was a firecracker with more than enough wit for the both of them. She was also a hell of a swordsman. Crissta with a blade was truly a dance and Amelia found great respect for her.  
A loud cracking sound burst through the campsite. Nearly every voice went silent instantly, ears now searching for the source of the sound. 

“It’s the door!” a cry rang out and in an instant soldiers began rushing to brace the door. 

Archers ran from the towers and positioned themselves adjacent from the doors.

“What’s going on?” Ivan asked, standing on his toes to see over the mass of people. 

“Something’s trying to breach the door.” Crissta said, appearing at their side with her sword in hand, “Undead would be my guess.” 

“I fucking hate the undead,” Ivan whined. 

“You and me both, kid.” Crissta laughed and they moved toward the door. 

Soldiers closest to the door had managed to brace the wood with broken down panels from the courtyard. Now they all stood watching as the beating of decaying  
hands caused the door to groan. 

“Think they’ll get through?” Ivan asked. 

“They always do.” Amelia replied with a sigh. 

It was much longer after that, that several solid thuds against the door were followed by silence. Voices yelled through the doors and soldiers nearby rushed to open them. 

“Looks like Daddy’s home,” Crissta said with a yawn, “I’m hitting the sack. You coming?” She turned to Amelia.

“Yeah, I have shift at the crack of dawn.” Amelia replied and followed Crissta back to their tent. 

 

*

 

Amelia managed to get at least three to four hours of solid sleep before Crissta was shaking her awake to take guard shift. 

She rolled out of bed, rubbing her eyes and immediately wanted to go right back to bed. The air was crisp and caused goosebumps to appear up her arms. She threw on her boots and armor before walking out to begin her shift.

Merideen was on shift with Amelia, which suited her perfectly. Merideen was her favorite person to be on shift with (besides Crissta, of course). She didn’t talk much and had an oddly calming presence about her despite her rugged appearance.

Merideen was easily in her late forties. She had weathered skin and had seen more sun-filled days than Amelia could imagine. Her hands were worn with calluses from years of practicing with a sword and a childhood filled with hard work on a farm. Merideen was sarcastic, blunt and all around hilarious. She wore her dark hair in intricate braids down her back. A scar ran across her forehead and into her eyebrow. It gave her a rather intimidating appearance but according to a very drunken confession to Amelia, it was kick from a spooked horse that gave it to her.

Their shift went smoothly. Merideen preferred to sit in the center of camp near the fire and watch. Since the wall of the courtyard protecting their back perimeter, Amelia spend most of the night wandering the inside of the camp. Archers on the walls would protect the outside. 

The sun was rising by the time her shift ended. She knew there was no point in going back to sleep so she took to making breakfast while she waited for the others to wake up. 

The Keep doors creaking open caused her to look up and see a lone horse and rider come through. Even from here, she knew it to be Hawke and against her will, let out a sigh of relief.


End file.
